Date: Fri, 23 Apr 1999 14:11:52 -0700
From: Dan Gray <dgray@justin-siena.napanet.net>
To: Pinhole Listserv <pinhole@exploratorium.edu>
Subject: Re: pinhole probability
It seems to me that if there are conditions which would make a particular
couple more likely to have daughters than sons, or vice versa, she would be
more likely to have a sister if her parents fell into this category. If her
parents do not fall into this category then the odds are 50:50. So this would
make the overall odds more likely that she would have a sister. On the other
hand, I seem to recall that there are more boys born than girls. Hmmmm.....
-Dan Gray
Ian Bleakney wrote:
> Hey pinholers, a probability question:
>
> Let's pretend that you meet a person and she says that she has only
> one sibling. What is the probability that her sibling is a boy? How
> about a girl? I'm pretty sure that it is not 50:50....
>
> (So, in real life, if you meet a woman with one sibling, is there
> really a better chance of her having a brother than a sister?)
>
> Stumped in Oakland
>
> --
> ‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡
>
> Ian Bleakney
> Science Instructor
> Merritt Middle College High School
> Oakland, CA
>
> Address:
> 1734 Allston Way
> Berkeley, CA 94703
>
> The word 'bipartisan' usually means some larger-than-usual deception
> is being carried out.
>
> - George Carlin
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> To unsubscribe from pinhole, send an email to requests@exploratorium.edu
> with the words 'unsubscribe pinhole' (without the quotes) in the SUBJECT
> of the email.
>
> To subscribe to the digest and only get 1 combined message a day, send an
> email to requests@exploratorium.edu with the words 'subscribe digest
> pinhole' (without the quotes) in the SUBJECT of the email.
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------